"Dating Game" killer sentenced for 1970s murders

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Convicted California serial killer Rodney Alcala, a contestant on "The Dating Game" television show more than 30 years ago, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on Monday for murdering two New York women in the 1970s.

Alcala, 69, already on death row in California for killing four women and a 12-year-old girl in that state, was extradited to New York in June to face charges in the slayings of flight attendant Cornelia Crilley, 23, and Ellen Hover, 23, the daughter of a nightclub owner.

Known as "The Dating Game" killer because of his appearance on the show, Alcala pleaded guilty to two counts of intentional murder on December 14.

Judge Bonnie Wittner choked back tears as she sentenced Alcala to a concurrent 25 years to life in prison and described his crimes as "an inexplicably brutal, horrible act" and the most gruesome case she had dealt with in her three decades on the bench.

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With the purpose of writing about true crime in an authoritative, fact-based manner, veteran journalists J. J. Maloney and J. Patrick O’Connor launched Crime Magazine in November of 1998. Their goal was to cover all aspects of true crime: Read More